New website aims to be clearinghouse for shale research

As the Harrisburg reporter for StateImpact Pennsylvania, Marie Cusick covers energy and environmental issues for public radio stations statewide. She’s also part of NPR’s energy and environment team, which coordinates coverage between the network and select member station reporters around the country. Her work frequently airs on NPR shows including Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition. Since 2012, Marie has closely followed the political, social, environmental, and economic effects of Pennsylvania’s natural gas boom. Her work has been recognized at the regional and national levels– honors include a Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists and a national Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio Television Digital News Association. Previously, Marie was a multimedia reporter for WMHT in Albany, New York and covered technology for the station’s statewide public affairs TV show, New York NOW. In 2018, she became StateImpact’s first FAA-licensed drone pilot.

A new online tool aims to provide a library of up-to-date research, outlining the effects of the nation’s shale oil and gas boom.

RFF researchers Daniel Raimi and Alan Krupnick developed SHARC. The database contains about a thousand articles– mostly from peer-reviewed academic journals, accompanied by summaries of the research.

“If you’re a regulator and you wanted to know what the latest studies were on the risk of earthquakes from wastewater disposal, it was very difficult to get that information quickly,” said Raimi. “What we’ve tried to do with this tool is provide a repository to get that information.”

Users can sort the research by topic. SHARC covers three main areas: environmental and public health issues, government regulations, and the socioeconomic impacts of shale development.

“This tool has been designed primarily for regulators,” said Raimi. “But we also think it will be useful for the general public, and we want the public’s feedback.”

Although many of the journal articles remain behind paywalls, access to the summaries is free.

After years of studying the issue and sifting through data, he believes the good usually outweighs the bad for people who live near shale development.

“For the broader public and U.S. citizens as a whole– every one of us is paying lower prices for energy today than we otherwise would, because of shale development. That’s a clear economic benefit for consumers,” he said. “The flip side of that: when energy costs less, people use more. Therefore, emissions such as carbon dioxide and methane increase, and you have the climate damage, which is very important to study and evaluate.”